Physical vs. Observational Properties of Clouds in Turbulent Molecular Cloud Models

Abstract

We examine how well the physical properties of clumps in turbulent molecular clouds can be determined by measurements of observed clump structures. We compare simulated observations of three-dimensional numerical models of isothermal, magnetized, supersonic turbulence to the actual physical structure of the models. We determine how changing the parameters of turbulence changes the structure of the simulations. Stronger driving produces greater density fluctuations, and longer wavelength driving produces larger structures. Magnetic fields have a less pronounced effect on structure, and one that is not monotonic with field strength. Aligned structures are seen only with low-density tracers, and when the intensity of the field is large. Comparing different regions with the same tracers (or the same region with different tracers) can give information about physical conditions: different density tracers can help determine the size of the density fluctuations and thus the strength of the driving. Nevertheless, velocity superposition of multiple physical clumps can fully obscure the physical properties of those clumps, and short wavelength driving worsens this effect. Regarding Larson's relationships, we confirm previous claims that the mean density-size relationship is an artifact of the observations; and the velocity dispersion-size relationship, is consistent with observations. Regarding the mass spectra, we show that, when we look for clumps with high enough resolution, they converge to a log-normal function, rather than the power-law obtained in the literature.

ApJ accepted. 14 gif figures. PS file available at ftp://ftp.astrosmo.unam.mx/pub/j.ballesteros/Papers/

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